Under the Fig Tree

When your loved one commits suicide, life is irreversibly changed. This searingly honest book just might help you understand how to survive the loss of a loved one. The author shares feelings of immense blame, shame, and the stigma surrounding anorexia and suicide. Readers seeking to overcome grief will be comforted with tender and thoughtful insights regarding why some people are more likely to take their own lives than others. It is one of the more unique books about overcoming grief using art to help those facing suicide bereavement. It asks the pertinent question, 'how can we reach out and help those most likely to take their lives?' It's far from one of the often and unfortunately glamorized books about eating disorders and battling anorexia. Instead, it is a thoughtful memoir to help others understand people with a natural ambivalence toward life. Throughout her late teens and early adult life, with anorexia banished to the shadows, Anna found great success as a fashion designer, illustrator, graphite artist, and poet, all the while banishing her battle with anorexia to the shadows. Finally, a move to Paris at the age of thirty-two welcomed her into the bohemian art scene that paints Montmartre in vibrant colors. Anna's mum, Rita, describes her daughter as one of the many babies born with a "naked nerve." Many believe these melancholy "old souls" have "been here before." She courageously shares her story to show others how to survive the loss of a loved one as she explores the notion of babies born with an intense ambivalence toward life and death. She knows this powerful dynamic creates anxiety, frustration, and fears that take enormous effort to conquer. Still, she presses on to help others overcome grief and do her part to reduce the horrendous number of suicide cases. It is a timely and imaginative book that will not only help others see how to survive the loss of a loved one but inspire those battling anorexia and suicide. Through the Anna M Wright Art Foundation, all proceeds from this book will help the families left behind working through suicide bereavement. In addition, the money raised will fund therapies for those suffering from all mental health issues. Anna's foundation intends to focus on art and other creative mediums as a positive way of expressing, communicating, and connecting in ways that have hitherto been impossible. Our beautiful, fragile, loved ones, who are no longer physically with us, are always in our dreams.